


raindrops keep falling

by insunshine



Category: Veronica Mars (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2006-12-17
Updated: 2006-12-17
Packaged: 2017-11-13 03:46:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,276
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/499116
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/insunshine/pseuds/insunshine
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Piz develops a crush on Mac. It's awkward.</p>
            </blockquote>





	raindrops keep falling

He doesn’t know what her story is, and it’s pretty obvious that none of them want to talk about it, but he still wonders.

 

The blue streak in her hair catches the light streaming in through the window, and he watches her as she chews on her pen cap. 

 

She’s pretty, and he wonders why he never noticed that before.

 

_Hey;_ he says, standing when she does. He’s been done for a few minutes, just sitting and watching and waiting for her, in what he hopes is the least creepy way possible.

 

She doesn’t say anything back, but she’s not frowning either, so he sees it as a good sign. For what, he doesn’t know yet.

 

_How was your break?_ He’s trying, he really is, and it’s only when his fingers trip lightly over the knotty black fabric of her sweater, that she stops to look at him. Her eyes are guarded in a way that he hadn’t expected.

 

_I haven’t seen her since the accident either. I don’t know anything, and she’s not picking up her phone. Maybe you should try her. Or maybe she just doesn’t want to be found._ She says, without pausing for breath, or his comprehension, and she starts to move past him, down the hallway and away.

 

He’s sort of surprised that he doesn’t want her to go. He’s even smiling a little.

 

_I wasn’t-this isn’t about_ her. 

 

Her eyes are wide with something that could possibly pass as amusement, and there’s a hint of a smile on her lips. 

 

_Piz, you don’t seem like a bad guy, really. But…Veronica is in love with Logan. And I’ve got a feeling she always will be. If there’s a best friend you should try and butter up, it’s Wallace and not me._

 

She reaches out and touches his arm this time, the indent of her fingers making an even soften pattern that his had made.

 

_This isn’t about Veronica;_ he says again, and when she finally looks into his eyes, she isn’t making fun of him anymore. They are sad now, her eyes, and he wants to know why. _I…I know how it is with her and Logan._

 

_But you’re going to fight the good fight anyway? Goddess speed, my friend._ The teasing note is back, and her back is turned and she’s walking away, and he doesn’t want her to. He wants her to talk to him-to want to talk to him.

 

_I-I’m a lover, not a fighter!_ He calls out lamely, he knows it’s lame, and he curses himself for it, but when she turns around, she’s smiling for real.

 

_Why am I not surprised?_ She shoots back, and he can feel the edges of his ears burning red, and he’s really glad she’s on the other end of the hallway.

 

_You uh, you should be!_

_Maybe._

 

And then, in his estimation at least, he does the dumbest thing possible.

 

_Do you want to grab a cup of coffee at the hut? With…with me?_

 

**

 

_Oh my god, Piz! Hi!_

 

Oh, _god_ no.

 

_Parker, h-hey, how’s it…hanging?_ Lame. He knows it’s lame, but Veronica’s words about 6th grade and crushes and Parker are swirling back to haunt him, and if the brightness of her smile isn’t enough to convince him that she was right, Parker’s fingers, which are dancing lightly on the arm of his jacket would totally do the trick.

 

_Oh, well, you know. Somewhere in the middle._ She bites her lip and laughs, and the sound is pretty, and warm, and her eyes are definitely sparkling, but…there’s nothing. He must be crazy for not being attracted to this girl. Especially since she replied to his completely inane question with a response that was 95 thousand times nicer than, go back to the 90s, asshole, which he’d attribute to someone less kind.

 

_Is, uh, is Mac here?_ He asks, and he’s already cringing and looking away so he doesn’t have to watch her face fall. But he looks up a second too soon, thinking it would already be over with, and there she is, eyes downcast and sad.

 

He hates himself, he really does.

 

_She’s actually not;_ Parker says after a long quiet moment that goes a second too long. _I think she’s in the library though, if you want to look for her. Or I could tell her you stopped by. I’m sure she’d like that._

 

Piz doubts it, but the words that she doesn’t say, the ones that are hanging in the air, her, _I certainly would_ , make him feel awkward in his skin. It’s not his fault that he doesn’t like her. She shouldn’t be making him feel guilty! Except, she isn’t. She’s being really nice. Nicer than he would have been. Nicer than he _has_ been, and it makes him a little sick inside.

 

_No, don’t worry about it. I’ll just, uh, go look for her._

_I can come with you, if you like. I think she told me which carrel she was going to be studying in._ There’s a tiny smile peeking out of the corners of her lips, and he knows that it might make things better, at least for the time being, but he just…he can’t. 

 

He doesn’t want to hurt her.

 

_Actually, I was going to swing by there later. I have to take care of some scheduling things at the radio station._

 

Oh…Okay. Her voice is small, and it what happens next really isn’t his fault.

 

_But, uh, maybe some other time, Okay?_

 

Her smile is so bright that it’s blinding, and he tugs at the non-existent collar of his t-shirt.

 

_Sure, yeah! Whenever you want!_

 

_Okay. So I’ll see you later._

_Great!_

_So…take care._

_Oh yeah! You too!_

 

He can hear her voice bouncing all the way down the hallway.

 

**

 

He doesn’t go to the library right away, in case Parker has some way of checking, and he swings by the station too, just in case. Steve, the GM, looks surprised to see him, but his face has had that look since Mercer was discovered as the campus rapist and he had four hours of show time to fill.

 

It isn’t too far away, and even though the evening is crisp, he kind of has this warm feeling inside thinking about getting to see Mac. But, only sort of.

 

And only, because he thinks he hit his head when he was getting out of the shower this morning.

 

His eyes widen as he pushes into the lobby, because there she is. The fluorescents are bouncing off the blue streak instead of the sunlight this time, but it still shines.

 

She’s laughing at something, harder and warmer than he’s ever seen her, and she looks so pretty that, as dumb and cliché as it sounds, she takes his breath away a little. He takes a step closer, and his sneaker makes a squeaking noise in the parquet that he’s sure will give him away, but she doesn’t look up at him.

 

She must be studying really hard, he thinks, and he’s about to take another step closer, when it happens, and his breath is taken away for real.

 

Dick Casablancas, a guy he’s only seen in passing, swoops in, and he’s settling across from her, and kissing her swiftly.

 

Piz’s eyes almost bulge out of his head, because Mac never seemed like the kind of girl who would even go near a guy like that and-

 

_Piz, hey!_ She calls out, and she sounds genuinely happy to see him, and he can’t _not_ go over there.

 

Sometimes, he thinks, sometimes life really sucks.


End file.
